A commune in the spirit of Osho. Interview with Shimaji and Chetan

But they failed to hide it for a simple reason. A few years earlier, Gandhi's own personal secretary, Pyarilal, fell in love with a woman. He was a young, intelligent man, and a wonderful writer. Gandhi prevented him with an ultimatum: “Either stay celibate or leave the ashram. If you want - get married, I have no objection; get married, but stay celibate! "

Amazing logic: fast by keeping all kinds of great food around you. It becomes even more difficult to fast like this, because it is impossible to think about anything else except the wonderful dishes around, and the aroma that rises from them constantly reminds of hunger.

It was Pyarilal, out of obvious revenge, as I understand it, who revealed the secret to the whole world. He wrote a biography of Mahatma Gandhi and devoted nearly a hundred pages to his unnatural idea of ​​celibacy. And in the end, just before his death, Mahatma Gandhi began to sleep with the girl! Even now, Gandhists don't talk about it. Films have been made about Gandhi, but this part is not there. And people like Vinoba Bhave, Kaka Kalikar - his closest students - wrote letters to Pyarilal, which he published: "Do whatever you want, but don't give this secret away." Here are people looking for the truth.

What can I say about them, except that they, too, stand under the rays of the sun, but with their backs to it?

All these people who blame and condemn others, only to feel superior, are only concerned with that, so as not to turn their face to the sun, to keep their backs to the sun. They do not want to see, they are quite content with their blindness. Their blindness lasts for a very long time, it has become their philosophy, their religion, their way of life. They cannot change it, although it is very simple to change: one turn of one hundred and eighty degrees - and there is no darkness, only light.

But even if you turn these people around, they will keep their eyes closed. They only look at their shadows; they see only their shadows, and their shadows are their laws. The question was: "Tell us about the laws."

Almustafa says very accurately:

They see only their shadows, and these shadows are laws for them.

Their laws are created by their blindness, their darkness, their unconsciousness.

What is the sun for them if not the creator of shadows?

The sun is not a light for them, but only shadow maker. If you kept your back to the sun, then your conviction, of course, would be the same.

And what does it mean to recognize the laws, how not to bow down and draw your shadows on the ground? They have no light, only their own shadow - what is left to do?

What does it mean to accept the laws, how not to bow down and draw your shadows on the ground? And what is drawn on the ground in their own shadows, they want to impose on everyone else.

Beautiful saying: But you, walking with your face to the sun - what images inscribed on the earth can hold you back? The sun is your law! This is what I say: love is your only law. Don't go against love. Follow where your love leads you and you will always be innocent.

You pilgrims with the wind, which weather vane will show you the way? Just live a life of allowing, and the winds will lovingly carry you to where your destiny is.

It is in your hands to remain a slave or become a free person. You were born free; slavery is a gift from all those who pretend to love you. Most likely, they don't even realize that they are making you a slave.

Break all chains, throw off the yokes and follow your own nature.

Wherever it leads, there is paradise.

The question is not about the location of paradise. I say, if you just follow your nature, then wherever you go, you will find paradise.

What human law will bind you if you throw off your yoke, but not in front of the door of a person's prison?

What laws will you fear if you dance without bumping into the iron chains of a person? This is for you:

Dance, but don't trip over someone's chains. If someone decides to stay in chains, that is his problem.

And who will bring you to judgment if you take off your clothes, but do not leave them in the path of man?

Who has the right to hinder you, drop your clothes, your conditioning, and become an individual in their own right? - but do not throw your clothes and vestments in anyone's way.

People of Orphales, you can muffle the drum and loosen the strings of the lyre, but who will forbid a lark to sing?

Pune Police Commissioner!

Okay, Vimal?

Yes, Master!

Osho International Commune in Pune, India is guided in its life by the vision of the enlightened master Osho. This is a kind of laboratory, an experiment to create a new person - a person who lives in harmony with himself and with the world around him, free from all belief systems and ideologies that are now tearing humanity apart.

The Osho Municipality Multiversity offers hundreds of workshops, groups and training sessions held in nine faculties:

Zen Centering and Martial Arts School

Osho School of Creative Arts

Osho International Academy of Healing Arts

Osho Meditation Academy

Osho Institute of Love and Consciousness

Osho School of Mysticism

Institute of Tibetan Pulse Diagnostics and Healing

Osho Transformation Center

Osho Creative Recreation Meditation Club

All of these programs are designed to help participants acquire meditation skills - the passive contemplation of thoughts, emotions and actions without evaluating or identifying them. Unlike many of the traditional disciplines of the East, meditation in Osho International Commune is an inseparable part of Everyday life- work, communication and just being. And the result is that people do not leave the world, but bring into it a spirit of awareness and celebration, with a deep reverence for life.

The culmination of the day at the Commune is the meeting of the Osho White Robe Brotherhood. This two-hour celebration of music, dance and silence, with a conversation from Osho, is unique: a complete meditation in oneself, when thousands of seekers, according to Osho, "dissolve into the sea of ​​consciousness."

Osho is one of those who discovered the door leading to life in the infinity of the present - he called himself a "true existentialist" - and he dedicated his life to inspire the desire in other people to find the same door, to go beyond the world of the past and future and discover the world of eternity.

Osho was born in the city of Kuchwada, in the Indian province of Madhya Pradesh on December 11, 1931. From early childhood, he was distinguished by a rebellious and independent spirit and always sought to reach the truth himself, instead of using the knowledge and beliefs offered to him by others.

Attaining enlightenment at the age of twenty-one, Osho completed his academic education and devoted several years to teaching philosophy at Jabalpur University. At the same time, he traveled throughout India, conducting talks, challenging Orthodox religious leaders to public debate, questioning traditional beliefs, and meeting people of all kinds. He read a lot - everything he could find to broaden his understanding of belief systems and philosophy. modern man... In the late 60s, Osho began to create his own unique techniques of dynamic meditation. Modern man, he said, is so burdened with obsolete traditions of the past and anxiety about life in our day that, before he can discover a thoughtless, relaxed state of meditation, he must go through a process of deep cleansing.

During his work, Osho talked about almost all aspects of development. human consciousness... He singled out the quintessence of all that is important for the spiritual search of modern man, based not on intellectual understanding, but tested by his own existential experience.

He does not belong to any tradition. "I am the beginning of a completely new religious consciousness," he says.

His published conversations with students and seekers from around the world are over six hundred volumes and have been translated into over thirty languages. “My message is not a doctrine or philosophy,” he says. “My message is a kind of alchemy, a science of transformation, and only those who are ready to die as they are and be reborn as something so new that this and It’s impossible to imagine ... only a handful of these daredevils are ready to listen, because listening means being willing to take risks. "

OSHO COMMUNE

Osho International Commune in Pune, India is guided in its life by the vision of the enlightened master Osho. This is a kind of laboratory, an experiment to create a new person - a person who lives in harmony with himself and with the world around him, free from all belief systems and ideologies that are now tearing humanity apart.

The Osho Municipality Multiversity offers hundreds of workshops, groups and training sessions held in nine faculties:

Zen Centering and Martial Arts School

Osho School of Creative Arts

Osho International Academy of Healing Arts

Osho Meditation Academy

Osho Institute of Love and Consciousness

Osho School of Mysticism

Institute of Tibetan Pulse Diagnostics and Healing

Osho Transformation Center

Osho Creative Recreation Meditation Club

All of these programs are designed to help participants acquire meditation skills - the passive contemplation of thoughts, emotions and actions without evaluating or identifying them. Unlike many traditional disciplines of the East, meditation in Osho International Commune is an integral part of everyday life - work, communication and just being. And the result is that people do not leave the world, but bring into it a spirit of awareness and celebration, with a deep reverence for life.

The culmination of the day at the Commune is the meeting of the Osho White Robe Brotherhood. This two-hour celebration of music, dance and silence, with a conversation from Osho, is unique: a complete meditation in oneself, when thousands of seekers, according to Osho, "dissolve into the sea of ​​consciousness."

Osho says You preach trust, but your house is closed from others by an impenetrable wall - with towers and machine gunners. You call the students your favorite children, but you secretly wiretap their homes. You convince others that the main happiness is not outside, but inside a person, but you continue to replenish your collections with new Rolls-Royces and diamond watches. You proclaim yourself a saint, but you still sleep with your disciples and watch orgies. So who are you really, Bhagwan Osho Rajneesh?
“People have become travelers. They are always on the go. They never achieve anything, but they always go somewhere: they just run away from where they are. But everything remains the same. Nothing changes. Changing the place won't help here. You have created your hallucination and you are living in it. Your heaven and your hell are all from the mind. Live HERE and NOW. Regretting the past or rushing into the future, you miss your real life“- for the first time I crossed paths with Osho at a not the best period of my life, and his books pulled me out of depression. Since then, I have not returned to Osho.
“No wonder - many came to Osho precisely during the period of mental breakdown,” sums up my words by the Israeli writer and translator Uri Lotan, who lived in the Osho commune for seven years and wrote a book about it called “Happiness and Punishment for Him” (“Osher ve onsho "). “And I went to India, not yet recovered from my divorce from my wife, whom I continued to love.
The first monologue "Approaching Osho"
I am an absolute atheist, Uri says categorically. - Besides, I am not one of those who are looking for idols and I hate the dictatorship. I came to Pune (the place where the Osho commune - Sh.Sh.) is an absolute nihilist. I heard about this place and about the freedom that reigns here - first of all, sexual freedom. India, exotic, cheap drugs pretty girls- what else do you need when you are only 25, but you are already a star (Uri Lotan was a famous DJ at the Galei Tsakhal radio station in the 1970s - it was he who told Israeli listeners about the breakup of the Beatles, revealed Bob Dylan and others Western musicians - Sh.Sh.). The first time I lived in a commune, just enjoying the atmosphere of this place. When I learned that I was from Israel and worked on the radio, I was offered to record Osho's lectures on a tape recorder and translate them into Hebrew. When you sit at lectures next to the Master, it is considered a great honor, and all the girls in the commune want to sleep with you later. Everything else was of little interest to me then.

The second monologue "Submission to Osho"
Now imagine a place, - continues Uri, - where everywhere you go, Osho's portraits hang: they are even in the toilet and above the bed, where you have sex with a girl. And on your chest there is also a small portrait of Osho on a wooden chain, which is forbidden to be removed even in the shower or during sex. First, you are told that with Osho around your neck, even sex will be of a different quality, then you yourself begin to think so.
I, unlike most members of the commune, was among those who personally communicated with Osho. And I will tell you that he is an incredibly intelligent, beautiful and attractive person - with a mesmerizing deep voice, smooth hand movements ... him. Osho undoubtedly possessed hypnotic abilities. Once, talking with him in private, I fell into such euphoria that I was carried out of his room in my arms, I laughed with happiness and could not stop for several hours. In short, I myself did not notice how I found myself in the complete power of Osho. My addiction to him was like a drug.

The third monologue "First doubts"
Osho-trans-2 One day they brought me a letter in Hebrew and asked to translate it into English for Osho, who received letters from all over the world. I began to read and saw that this letter was not addressed to Osho at all, but to a member of the Israeli commune from his girlfriend. I took the letter to this guy, and then they called me to the office of the commune: "Where is the letter?" - "I took it to such and such, you were mistaken, this letter is not for Osho." What started here! They were about to grind me to powder. Much later I learned that all the mail that came to the commune was checked and all rooms were tapped.
Then there was the story of an Israeli woman who stated that she became pregnant with Osho. She was immediately sent for an abortion and kicked out of the commune, in every possible way defamed for lying. I remember that I was also then among the attackers on this girl: “How can you say that about Osho? He is a Master, an Enlightened One, he is not interested in women. " That many of his students had passed through Osho's bed, I learned much later. As for that girl, she returned to Israel and after some time committed suicide.

Monologue the fourth "Slaves of the twentieth century"
Osho Machine- The main responsibility of the community members was to raise money for Osho. People came here from all over the world, giving everything they had to the commune - money for sold houses, savings, cars. A relative of the Queen of Holland donated the inheritance she received to the commune - 250 thousand dollars, and she herself did not even receive the room she had promised her. I remember that when I was informed from Israel that my father had died, I was immediately summoned to the office of the commune. I thought, "Probably, they want to express condolences." And I was asked only one question: "How much money did you receive after the death of your father?" Parents sent money in letters to many members of the commune, but they never reached them.
We were constantly driven to make money for Osho. The most in an easy way the extraction of money was prostitution, the sale of drugs and all sorts of credit card fraud. Over the seven years of my life in the commune, I managed to be both a drug courier and a pimp. Including: he sold clients his second American wife, whom he met in the commune, several times flew to Japan with three kilograms of hashish on his body. I remember how in Bombay I went up to a rich sheikh from Saudi Arabia, introduced himself as a Frenchman and asked if he wanted to fuck my beautiful sister for $ 1000 (in the commune we were all considered brothers and sisters). Most of the members of the commune worked hard work - building houses, laying roads. There were no days off. We worked for the benefit of the commune 12 hours a day free of charge. The commune did not accommodate everyone - many were forced to rent housing in Pune, which is why prices there jumped terribly and were no lower than European ones.
Osho divided the women of the commune into two types: beautiful and ugly. From the first he chose his concubines, and to the second he gave power, and they began to lead the commune, taking out their complexes on its members. One of these ugly ruled medical center commune, she was well versed in poisons and skillfully used them, which is why she received the nickname "Sister Mengele".
In the commune, women chose men for sex, and not vice versa: every day men had to line up in a line along which women walked, choosing a partner for the night.
... When the commune moved from India to America (Osho fled there, hiding from prison for non-payment of 40 million debt to the Indian tax department, the first - on the private plane of his wealthy students from Hollywood, who bought a huge piece of land for him in Oregon for $ 7 million) ... Then the members of the commune moved to the United States, who first of all began to build a villa and a pool for Osho (it subsequently took several thousand dollars a month to heat the pool), and then houses for his entourage. The members of the commune themselves lived in caravans - six people per room, without air conditioning.

Monologue 5 "Myths about Osho"
The condition for admission to the commune was participation in paid (from 200 to 400 and more dollars) seminars. At one of them, a sincere striptease took place, where everyone had to tell everything about himself to a random partner, who changed every 15 minutes at the sound of a bell. The second seminar for the candidate was chosen by Osho himself - based on a photograph of the applicant and his handwritten request for admission to the commune. He, not seeing the person, decided what problem he had, an unfulfilled desire: to rape someone, or to be beaten, or to participate in an orgy. After such seminars, people came out with broken ribs and black eyes. There was even such a joke in use: "I fell on the way to the Ashram" (ashram is the Indian name for the place where the commune was located - Sh.Sh.).
Osho assigned me to the isolation group. For a week I had to sit in my room opposite his portrait and not communicate with anyone. They were allowed to go out only for lunch. There was a sign “silence” on my chest (silence - Sh.Sh.), and no one was supposed to speak to me. This test turned out to be unbearable for me - I spoke on the sixth day. Osho's clairvoyant instructions on the distribution of seminar participants turned out to be another myth: people were assigned to those groups where there was a shortage.
Allegedly for the purpose of spiritual improvement, Osho separated the couples that had formed before joining the communes or formed in the commune itself. For the same purpose, he forbade us to do what we showed great interest in. For example, from my youth I dreamed of becoming a writer. Osho forbade me to write. In fact, the reason for such instructions was his desire to completely subjugate the members of the commune, so that no one and nothing would overshadow Osho himself in our eyes.
As for other idols ... Osho respected Hitler, said that Hitler was an outstanding person. He loved to repeat his words that if you say a lie many times, it will turn into the truth. However, Osho tried to de-legitimize anyone who could outshine Osho himself in the eyes of his listeners. According to the Master, John Lennon and Freud were idiots, Gandhi was a liar, Mother Teresa was a fool, Freud was a maniac. As for the others ... Sometimes Osho began his speech with the words: "Such persons as me, Jesus and Buddha ..."
When someone began to doubt Osho's postulates, he was immediately told: "You are not a whole person if you doubt the words of the Master."
We were told that Osho is sensitive to the smell of bad energy, such as the energy of anger, and to noise. Before the start of the lecture, members of the commune were sniffed, and if they caught the smell of sweat, they were not allowed into the room. Once they didn’t let me in, and I was ready to commit suicide because of this - such was my dependence on Osho at that time. If someone coughed during a lecture, they were immediately thrown out. In fact, the reason for Osho's sensitivity to smells and sounds had nothing to do with esotericism: Bhagwan had a drug addiction to Valium, a laughing gas delivered to him in cylinders, and several other drugs that he "sat" on for many years. as a result, he developed this intolerance to odors and noise. I have seen more than once how Osho swayed as he walked like a drunken man. He moved very little, but once a week he made sure to take a short trip in one of his Rolls-Royces to receive the honors: members of the commune stood along the road and threw rose petals under the wheels of his car. This ritual was called the "road of flowers".
The period when Osho made a vow of silence and remained silent for four years also turned out to be a myth. While in his chambers, he spoke incessantly. A member of the commune, who was the lover of one of the ugly people close to Osho, who led the commune, told me about this.

Another myth is associated with the assertion that Osho did not know about the brutal orders imposed in the commune by his entourage. A former bodyguard of Osho wrote the book "God Downed", in which he claims that Osho's secretary recorded all the conversations that Osho had in his personal apartments, and now these 3000 tapes are in the hands of the FBI. The author of the book claims that most of the ideas implemented in the commune belonged to Osho.
I remember that when the leadership of the commune announced that its members should undergo sterilization, referring to Osho, we did not believe that this came from the Master. But then, in one of his public speeches, he openly spoke about sterilization, arguing that having children is a loss of energy necessary for spiritual self-improvement. I remember how I dissuaded two girls I knew from this crazy idea, but they were sterilized. Now they, like me, are already over 50. It would be interesting to know what they think about all this now? When they first talked about AIDS, the commune was immediately instructed to have sex using a condom and putting it on your hands. latex gloves... “Sister Mengele” began to check who is sick with AIDS and who is not. Actually, this was not a test, but her sole decision. Members of the commune, declared "Sister Mengele" sick, were sent to settle in the local gulag - an isolated area with caravans. At least two of them, I know very well - they are still alive, and they do not have any AIDS, despite the diagnosis of "Sister Mengele".

The sixth monologue "Exile"
My American wife saw her sight before me and left the commune. Once I called her and said that I felt like in a concentration camp with these machine gunners on the towers and the need to seek permission from the commune leadership about any of my steps. Half an hour later, a Mercedes pulled up in front of my caravan, and one of the commune leaders, who bore the nickname Lady Macbeth, climbed out, with two thugs behind, armed with Uzi (there were a lot of weapons in the commune in general). She stated that Osho ordered to expel me from the commune and tore the chain with his portrait from my neck.
I still have the keys to my Ford donated to the community fund, and I took advantage of this by stealing my own car from Osho and driving it to Los Angeles.
It turned out to be easy to leave Osho, but to get rid of Osho within myself ... If not for the support of my friends ... After being expelled from the commune, I had a feeling inside of a black hole that there was nothing to fill. For a long time I was in a severe depression, was very vulnerable and involuntarily attracted misfortune to myself: I was robbed, fired from my job, and once unknown (I still do not know if I was connected with the commune, or I accidentally met him on the road ?) beat me up in the street so much that it took me several surgeries to get to my feet. Of those who left the commune or were expelled from it, I know at least five who committed suicide, unable to free themselves from Osho within themselves.

Monologue 7 "Osho's American Failure"
Osho people- When Osho stepped off the plane in Oregon, the first words he uttered, not without pathos, were: “Hello America! I am the Buddha you have been waiting for! " However, with America, Osho missed the mark. In those years, Americans were rather indifferent to esotericism and Eastern spiritual movements. In addition, with their inherent pragmatism, they could not figure out how to connect Osho's proclaimed commune, which does not pursue the goal of earning money, and therefore claims to be exempt from taxes, with its constantly growing collections of Rolls-Royces and diamond watches. And even more so, the Americans could not understand how you can force a person to work 12 hours a day without paying him a penny for it.
The heyday of Osho in India is quite understandable: in time this period coincides with the period of the sexual revolution, freedom, emancipation, which took place in the world in the 1960s. Osho just grabbed the idea and gave sex a spiritual legitimation, which looked especially attractive in the eyes of the younger generation. I remember very well my feelings of that period in Pune: I am 25, I am the king, all the beautiful girls are mine, I am free, there are no restrictions. All over the world, group sex was considered an orgy, and only in the Osho commune was it called "spiritual work."

Monologue 8 "Biological Terror"
When the commune moved to Oregon, terrible things began. Deciding to win political power in the district elections, the commune leadership sent a group to Dallas, where they were supposed to pass, which sprayed liquid with salmonella, in in public places, which caused a massive epidemic: 750 people fell ill (later, in one of the books, this event was called the first bioterrorist attack in the United States). In addition, to participate in the elections, according to state law, representatives were required - the natives of this place. The commune leadership bribed local homeless people for these purposes, most of whom later (after the elections) disappeared, and one was found killed. The case went too far: the FBI launched an investigation. On the life of Charles Turner, who led the investigation, members of the commune attempted twice. I lived in the same room with the pilot who was supposed to send a rented plane with explosives to Turner's house, having previously ejected. He fled the commune the day before the alleged terrorist attack.
Osho was arrested and imprisoned for two weeks, and a group of 20 of his associates fled to Germany, where they were arrested and transported to the United States. These people were tried and spent seven years in prison.
As for Osho, thanks to the compromise reached by lawyers, he received a suspended sentence and paid a fine of half a million dollars, after which he left the United States on the private jet of his followers from Hollywood. For about a year Osho wandered around the world in this way - no country wanted to accept him: in England he twice requested landing and was twice refused; Ireland allowed only short-term landings to refuel the aircraft; from the island of Crete were deported by police forces and soldiers. In the end, Osho was forced to return to India, paying that country 40 million in taxes that he owed. Quite quickly, the Osho commune was revived in its old place - in Pune, and this time hundreds of young Israelis rushed into it (while in my time there were no more than a dozen of them).

Monologue 9 "The Seed of the Dragon"
Today I can already claim that I have freed myself from Osho within myself. But for many years I have experienced the aftermath of seven years of living in a commune where drug use such as hashish and LSD was the norm. For example, in my life there was a period when I could not sleep for months - neither day nor night. Only a strong sleeping pill gave me several hours of oblivion. Then I fell ill with agrophobia - fear open spaces, and did not leave the house for months.
For everyone who came to the commune not for a month or two, but for years, it ended in severe mental trauma. What kept us there? A lasting feeling of happiness, freedom, euphoria. It seemed to us that we belonged to the elite of the enlightened. The whole world has divided for us into two concepts "we" and "they". "They" are all other people who have nothing to do with the commune, who cannot access what they have dedicated us to. Most of us were at an age when a person usually builds himself, his family, career, and future. We gave the commune everything we had - best years, money, unrealized abilities, and left without a family, children, money, housing, work, profession ... Osho died in 1990. According to one of the versions, he died of AIDS, according to another - from the long-term use of drugs of narcotic action. There was no autopsy. Osho's body was burned according to the Indian rite. A month before his death, the Englishwoman Vivec committed suicide, who for 30 years was literally his shadow, and at all lectures always sat at his feet.
The Osho Ashram in Pune still exists. And there, as I said, there are a lot of Israelis. I'm lucky I didn't get AIDS or commit suicide after living in Osho commune, so I consider myself responsible to tell as much as possible. more people about the true face of Osho and his followers. I was naive, carried away by the ideas of a fake leader and almost lost myself, my identity. Sorry for wasted energy, wasted years. I avoid people who are still under the influence of Osho's ideas, and with those who, like me, got rid of him, I am ashamed to meet, just as they are with me. We have nothing to remember.

Posts from This Journal by “Applied Psychology” Tag

• POLITICAL CORRECTNESS IS Worse than Bolshevism

  VLADIMIR BUKOVSKY: POLITICAL CORRECTNESS IS Worse than LENINISM Russian dissident writer Vladimir Bukovsky (it was a ditty about him ...

How did your spiritual journey begin? How did it happen that you walk this path together, and why is your path connected with Osho?

Chetan: My spiritual journey began at the age of 17 with a feeling of lack of what I received or could receive from the life that I knew. That is, from a feeling of inner dissatisfaction, from the search for the meaning of one's existence, the search for something real, genuine, genuine. At first I looked for an answer in books - these were books on the practical psychology of Nikolai Kozlov, on the integral yoga of Sri Aurobindo, Satprem. Then psychological trainings, which helped me to open access to my inner space and begin to navigate in it. In the place where the trainings were held, I was invited to the Dynamic Osho meditation... It was a strong experience, I became interested and read. Since my interest was of a practical nature - that is, I wanted real changes in my life, I did not miss the opportunity to attend other meditations and seminars. They completely changed my inner world and ultimately my outer life. At some point, at one of the seminars of a disciple of Osho, Sarovara, who came to St. Petersburg, I was seized by a strong fear - I realized that I do not know who I am. I was really scared to find myself in this unknown, and the seminar leader said that it was very good, that everything was going right. After that, when I came home, I lay down and felt that I was dying, or rather, that something in me was dying. I allowed it to be, and then I felt that I could not live as before - I dropped out of school, wanted to go to Pune, to the ashram. The relatives were excited, convinced me to take an academic leave, and not give up everything so abruptly. It was not possible to leave for India. For about a year I hung out here and there, worked, meditated on my own or in groups, but I could not find any main path, a new way of life - and again returned to my studies, trying to somehow squeeze myself into the framework of social life and those goals that I could see there. From this I felt worse and worse, and one might say fell into depression. There were many thoughts about giving up life altogether. I remember getting up in the morning, and every day I made a decision - I will live, no matter how hard it is, I will live.

And then I met Shimaji, then her name was Masha. I loved her, and she loved me. A strong resonance arose between us on a spiritual level, as if something had reawakened within me. We started a relationship and almost immediately started living together. She soon became pregnant. I again began to try to live a social life, got a job - such strong conditioning was included in the role of the husband, the future father. It seemed that now it was necessary to be realized in society, to make a career. But I didn't last long, about a month or two. Together we realized that such a life is not suitable for us, that there is a certain potential of another life that we must realize. She was very supportive of me in this. We created a small commune and organized the Osho Friends Club, where we began to conduct meditations and workshops. This period of our life is described in detail in my book "Love is".

Why Osho? It was like an invitation for us. It just happened - it's like love. This was love - for this Master, for his space, his energy. Osho's ideas about a new way of life, his deep penetration into the problems of modern man, and his dream - to build Paradise on Earth - all this was close to us and encouraged us to move on. There were other teachers - Sumiran, Ramesh Balsekar, Ram-Tzu, Gangadzhi and Eli, Papaji ...

Now the energies of teachers with thin plan such as Kryon, Archangel Gabriel, Kirael. There are many meditations according to Jasmukhin, Drunvalo Melchizedek, author's meditations of Shimaji and other members of the commune, her students.

Osho continues to play an important role in our work and on our journey. We feel an inner resonance and connection with his energy, a sense of deep alignment with his vision. And gratitude ...

Shimaji: My path began not with the search for enlightenment, but with the search for love, simple human happiness. It's just that at some point I realized that external searches led me only to external results, and that although there are all external attributes of happiness in my life, there is no true happiness in this. There is no something very important, something without which the whole life loses its meaning, and this is important, I cannot ask another, I have to find it myself. This understanding led me to the need for an internal search. But at the same time, in this inner search, I was ready to accept the help of teachers, at first it was just books, then communication with living people, and as a result I met someone who could open my eyes to my true nature, the nature of a Buddha. This meeting took place in the forest, at the Osho meditation camp in Petyajärvi, and the first person I could truly call my teacher was Swami Dharma Sumiran for me. Also in this camp I found a Master, who, although he was no longer present in the body, but the love for whom helped me to find my own the inner Master... I really felt this love, Osho was both a space and a person for me.

But this does not mean that I have given up the search for earthly love. I just realized that it is not external searches that are more important, but internal readiness for a meeting. And having found this readiness, I really met with someone who was also ready to share my path with me, with my future husband Chetan.

As a result of this meeting, my first satori- a temporary state of unity, integrity, full awareness of their divine essence. From that moment my search became really conscious, I learned what enlightenment is not conceptually, but on my own experience, I learned what true love is.

From the moment of the first satori to the final enlightenment, about two and a half years passed, and during this period my inner path was mainly associated with the awareness of what was holding me, what desires prevent me from finally awakening and gradually realizing my desires, I was freed from them. ...

The last obstacle, as it turned out, was my desire for recognition from a man, that is, my female conditioning did not allow me to be the first. I was waiting for my husband to become enlightened, become my Master and help me in my realization. And only realizing that I myself must do what I expect from him, I enlightened. This happened completely unexpectedly, during our conversation with Chetan. I just suddenly realized that I could not wait any longer and it happened. It really looks like awakening, as if, after long wanderings in a dream, searching, anxiety and suffering, you suddenly wake up and it turns out that you are already at home, there is nothing to look for, everything is already here - you yourself are what you were looking for.

How did the idea of ​​creating a commune come about? What is its purpose?

Shimaji: The idea of ​​creating a commune came to me during my stay at the Osho meditation camp. Somewhere towards the end of the camp, I had the feeling that since we lived here these three weeks, we could live further, that such a life might not be easy summer vacation... At that time, I had not read it yet Osho books and did not know that it was his ... so we can assume that this message was received by me from above. At the same time, I realized that it might not be so easy, but at that time I did not see my role as the leader of the commune, let alone the Master, I was just ready to do whatever was required to implement this idea. I addressed this idea to the sannyasins in the camp, they shared their experiences, talked about their attempts to create communes, and about the difficulties encountered. In general, everything turned out to be even more complicated than I thought, but at the same time, I clearly realized that I could not just return to my ordinary life... Then a small commune from St. Petersburg came to the camp, and they invited me to become a participant in it. I lived with them for about two months, and I am very grateful to them for this experience. Then they left for Auroville, and in general I realized that this was not exactly what I wanted. In this commune I was missing something, but at that time I still did not quite understand what. Then I got acquainted with Osho's ideas about the commune, and they inspired me a lot, there was a greater understanding of why this is needed. Osho said, "My sannyasins must build heaven on earth." And for me these were not just words. It was like an order received from above, and I felt that I was ready to devote my life to this. Then, when we were already with Chetan, it turned out that he shares my desire to create a commune. Over the next two years, we had the experience of living with by different people, that is, we tried to create a commune, but at some point, shortly before my enlightenment, there was a feeling that something was missing here, as if we were trying to build a house without light. Then I realized that I myself should become this light, because at that moment I had several experiences of satori, temporary states of enlightenment, and I felt that I was close to final awakening. The understanding that it was not only me who needed this gave me a strong impetus to awakening. And indeed, after my awakening, somehow everything began to happen differently, everything became clearer. And now I understand that it is really very difficult to make a commune without a Master. There are many situations when people collide with each other, and at these moments it is very important that there is light so that someone can see and help them figure out why this is happening and what to do about it. Of course, gradually they themselves learn this, older students appear who can help others. But even this is probably not the most important task of the Master in the commune. It is important that people understand why all this is needed at all, see where they are going, to which internal state, they strive for the quality of life. Osho has a parable about how two lost people meet in the forest, and at first they are very happy that each of them is no longer alone, but then they realize that none of them knows how to get out of the forest. So the Master is the one who knows this way out. So we can say that the commune has two goals - internal and external. Internal is helping people in their spiritual awakening. Because sometimes it happens that a person is not aware of what interferes with this awakening, it seems to him that he is very close to him, and states are very high, but for some reason the awakening does not finally come. So in a commune, your ego becomes visible at a glance, and it becomes possible to work with it consciously every day and track the dynamics of progress. That is, love becomes not just a beautiful word. It becomes a daily practice. The second goal - external - is to make Osho's dream come true, to create a paradise on Earth, and paradise for me is, first of all, a society of people who live in love and harmony. Of course, these two tasks are closely related.

How does she see the meaning and purpose of her life now?

Shimaji: I still see the meaning of my life in love, in the fact that this love fills more and more space in this world, leaving everything less space anger, hatred, violence. So that gradually our whole life becomes a dance of love, music of love, a song of love. We can say that this is also the goal of my life, that is, I continue to build heaven on Earth.

How many people live with you now? Please describe your daily rhythm of life.

Chetan: Now in the commune there are 11 adults and four children constantly living, soon there will be five - we are waiting for the addition.

The rhythm of life is very intense, both internally and externally. There are several general meditations throughout the day. This is an active morning meditation, during the day we celebrate - we dance to mantras and other music, then satsang - a space of silence, in the evening one more meditation, then a common circle where all the participants of the commune gather, sometimes night meditation. During the day there is a lot of work - men have to decorate the house, prepare firewood, etc., women work in the kitchen, sit with children. So visiting meditations is organized in turn or selectively - everyone cannot go to everything, and there is no such need.

In addition to general meditations, individual spiritual work takes place, which includes meetings with senior student-curators and with Shimaji, reading, independent execution exercises and assignments. Also, meetings take place in small groups to solve individual problems - preparation for classes, circles, solving practical issues.

When guests arrive, the life of the community centers around organizing the meditation process for the visitors, helping and working with them. This is one of the main tasks of our work - to help people spiritually.

Are spiritual insights happening with others in your community?

Shimaji: Spiritual insights happen to everyone, but there are no enlightened disciples yet. Although there are people who are very close to this.

How long have you been on a raw food diet? How do children eat in the commune?

Chetan: Personally, I started switching to a raw food diet about three years ago. I did it gradually, over the course of six months. At this time, he continued to consume dairy products, raw seafood (mainly squid), eggs. Then long time was on a pure raw food diet. Now, from time to time I can eat something cooked - a piece of bread and butter, a baked potato or something like that.

In general, everyone in the commune adheres to a raw food diet, some for a long time, some quite recently. Those who need it are allowed to eat cooked food in moderation, usually at a certain time, so as not to provoke those who have chosen a complete raw food diet for themselves, but have difficulty with this, and not to accustom children to cooked food - they are also in our mainly on a raw food diet, only the eldest child is our daughter, her 9 years old, occasionally there is something cooked.

Is there an opportunity for you to join new spiritual seekers? How and on what terms?

Chetan: Yes, there is an opportunity to join. This usually happens in stages - so that there is time for a new person to navigate in the space of the commune, to understand deeper in his intentions. Because starting to live in a commune is really a serious restructuring at all levels - on the physical - in terms of nutrition, work, psychological, spiritual. We have to give up a lot - old habits, lifestyles, the ability to independently make decisions on many issues. That is, in general, this is such a total decision to change intensively - and not everyone is ready for this. But without this, new opportunities will not open up here, there will be no cleansing from ego motivation, from everything that interferes with the true realization of a person.

So first we invite you to guest programs, for a few days. Then you can stay for a longer period - again, as a guest or a volunteer, depending on whether the person has the opportunity to pay for his stay in the commune. Volunteers are involved in physical work and pay much less. After about a month, we can talk about the decision to stay in the commune - the conditions for each are individual, depending on the situation and the needs of the person himself, his capabilities and those living conditions that he or his family need, and so on.

Do you maintain relationships with other spiritually awakened people? If so, which ones?

Chetan: We talked with Igor Chebanov in the city, now we continue to keep in touch - sometimes we call each other. Also, before leaving, we met Sat Marga, an awakened disciple of Sumiran, a prano-eater. We had a very interesting meeting with him, now we sometimes communicate via the Internet, we are waiting for a visit.
There was also a meeting with Sergei Gurdjieff - also while they were living in the city. We were sitting in the kitchen, drinking tea - and suddenly someone looks out the window, we had the first floor. I go to open it - he says: "I came to meet Shimaji." A very sincere, bright person. We talked for about an hour or two, and have not crossed paths since then.
All these meetings gradually change consciousness, the idea that enlightenment is very rare and happens only with selected, great people. This is important for me - although, of course, Shimaji, as the person closest to me, is also the most striking example of such an ordinary miracle for me.

What are your plans for the future? What should the development of the commune strive for?

Chetan: By by and large we strive to create a society of enlightened people, which will be an example and a school for those who also strive for a happy, fulfilling life. Well, there are still many different plans - to finish building the house, organize seminars, and the arrival of new people. To create such a spiritual space in which there will be all conditions for life and practice. Beautiful, harmonious space, materialized space of Love.